Healing is a function of metabolism. But this biological performance becomes less efficient as we age. Also, incomplete healing in cells results in aging reciprocally. That is why accelerating healing and regeneration is an important goal for many medical applications, yet remains challenging to achieve.
The human body is a walking power plant with a physiology involving energy production and consumption. It has the ability to manage energy metabolism which is critical to sustain life and adapt to stress. Metabolism is a process of chemical reactions that takes place in each cell to provide energy and synthesize new organic material. Therefore, energy metabolism serves a vital role in tissue repair and regeneration because cells are regenerated through metabolism.

Healing is a dynamic process that requires cellular energy in the form of ATP (Adenosine triphosphate) for each phase. Any decrease in the availability of ATP hinders every aspect of the healing process.
ATP  is the primary molecule for carrying energy in all living organisms on earth. It is often referred to as the energy currency of the cell and can be compared to storing money in a bank. ATP can be produced and stored for future needs, or can be withdrawn to pay for reactions when energy is required by the cell.
Increasing the amount of energy available for the cells, i.e., the cellular ATP level, can help improve the high energetic requirement associated with healing process to repair and regenerate tissues.

Mitochondria are the power source inside all cells. These tiny structures fuel the body by producing ATP. It is done by a metabolic reaction, called “cellular respiration”, to convert biochemical energy from food to ATP and discard the waste products. It is also called “oxidation of sugar”. It is an essential process for all living organisms.

Inside any living cells, the energy comes from aerobic respiration that uses oxygen to break down nutrients in the mitochondria in a long multi-step process and to produce ATP (Adenosine Tri-Phosphate, the energy currency of life). The “Electron Transport Chain” in the very last step of this cellular respiration process is essential for glucose metabolism. It involves a series of electron transporters embedded in the inner mitochondrial inter-membrane that shuttles electrons by pumping protons and reducing oxygen. The end products of this electron transport chain are water and ATP.

The inner membrane of mitochondria is loaded with proteins involved in electron transport and ATP synthesis. During electron transport, the participating protein complexes push protons from the matrix out to the intermembrane space, and produces the electrons that travel from one protein complex to the next. This creates a concentration gradient of protons that another protein complex, called ATP synthase, uses to power synthesis of the energy carrier molecule ATP. At the end of this electron transport chain (ETC), the final electron acceptor is oxygen, and this process ultimately forms water. At the same time, the electron transport chain produces ATP.

During the ETC process for ATP production, a critical enzyme called CCO (Cytochrome C Oxidase) is found to be responsive to high-energy photons at certain wavelengths. According to research findings, up-regulating CCO by means of light can effectively promote ATP production.
Though this mechanism was just confirmed in last decade with fundamental research, people for generations have noticed the therapeutic effect of light on the human body even without the knowledge of scientific details. Photo-Bio-Modulation (PBM) is a process of modulating biological performance by irradiating light directly. It subsequently improves the energy production, gene expression, and prevention of cell death.

Trying to get the Photo-Bio-Modulation (PBM) effect with natural sunlight is very difficult because it requires many long hours of exposure. First of all, the light across the full spectrum is not always useful. Only certain bands of light bring beneficial results. Even within the band, only a few certain wavelengths can penetrate multiple layers effectively after enormous reflection, refraction, and absorption by water. Also, it requires a sufficient amount of photons within a period of time to kick in a true PBM effect, which is hard to achieve with sunlight exposure alone. Thus, using artificial light sources such as a laser or LED makes it easy and efficient in a controlled way.
Also known as Low-Level Light Therapy (LLLT), it is a very safe and non-invasive therapy that has been adopted in many practices and applications with very positive results. There is no adverse effects based on current research and clinical trials on humans.
The research on Photo-Bio-Modulation and Low Level Light Therapy is growing exponentially. There are approximately 400 scientific articles being published every year in over 70 countries in the world.

What PBM does is improve the efficiency of ATP production. And ATP is the energy currency of cells that is mandatory for many kinds of reactions. Therefore, using PBM prior to any other stimulation or therapy techniques can provide more ATP to accelerate the reaction at a cellular level. Not only can PBM be used alone, but it can also be combined with other stimulation or therapeutic techniques, serving as a catalyst to complement and enhance the treatment result.

Exosomes are released from stem cells and are essential for inter-cellular communication. They have an extraordinary ability to transfer proteins, DNA, mRNA, and non-coding RNA. With PBM providing the abundant ATP for exosomes to be able to carry information and transport molecules cell-to-cell effectively. Anti-aging will become the next frontier of cell therapy.